Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

Poem: Eighth Avenue Brooklyn

A poem, written probably seven years ago when I waited for a computer to be fixed in Brooklyn (I had bought it at a computer show, but it was a piece of junk and I spent several Saturdays on this street waiting until I ended up filing a claim against the shop with my credit card company, lost a hubcap on my car, as well, and would definitely not recommend anyone buying a full system at a computer show), is up on the City Belt magazine site. Check it out.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Sportswriter drinks the Kool-Aid

Money aside, who in their right mind would argue that having J.D. Drew on your club makes you better than having Manny Ramirez? Who? This guy, that’s who — leaving all of us fans to wonder why we’re not getting paid to write bad columns about the sport we love.

Simple fact: J.D. Drew has been nothing more than a second-tier outfielder and hitter his entire career, and while he has managed to stay on the field a good portion of two of the last three years, he remains an injury risk, a head case and one of the most overpaid outfielders going.

Consider: Drew had his one of his better seasons in the bigs, hitting .283 with 20 dingers and 100 rbi. Granted that was in LA, but he’s only hit 30 homers once and seems to alternate between full seasons and half-seasons. Basically, he is a good hitter, but not one who belongs in the same breath as Manny Ramirez.

Ramirez had an off-year in 2006, playing fewer games than Drew but still out-hitting him — he had 102 rbi, 2 more than Drew’s career high and his lowest total since 1997. He also hit more homeruns and had a higher batting average.

Even cash should not be viewed as the issue, given that Drew will probably cost $14 million a year over five, while Manny is getting a bargain salary (for a hitter of his caliber in today’s market) of $19 million for the next two.

But then I am just some local newspaper editor watching baseball on TV and following the box scores in the paper. What do I know?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Get with the Neighborhood Watch program

We wrote this week’s editorial encouraging participation in Neighborhood Watch programs before hearing about these arrests. Check out this part of the story:

The pair were parked in the neighborhood for a while and would approach homes, often knocking on doors, South Brunswick police spokesman Detective James Ryan said. He said that if someone answered the door, the suspects would tell them it was the wrong home or that they were looking for “Mr. Smith.”

Mr. Smith? I’m thinking Timber Ponds needs a Neighborhood Watch.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.